As part of Project Champ, co-financed by the Intelligent Energy Europe programme, there are measures underway on the ‘coexistence of pedestrians and cyclists in pedestrian zones’.

Better weather in Ljubljana encourages everyone outside, so in the coming days we can expect much busier cycle paths, but also pedestrian areas where pedestrians and cyclists come together most often. We have discovered that contact between them is not always on the best terms, and so we are working hard to reduce potential points of conflict. One of the steps we are taking is the ‘coexistence of pedestrians and cyclists in pedestrian zones’, which is being undertaken as part of Project Champ.

Therefore it is that these days in Ljubljana’s pedestrian zones in various locations there is an ongoing survey of pedestrians and cyclists on the theme of cycling in Ljubljana with emphasis on evaluations of these ‘sensitive’ areas. Through this survey, the project partners – the City of Ljubljana and the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia – would like to find out how serious this problem is and what pedestrians and cyclists propose to improve the situation.

At the end of May we will inform experts and policymakers of the research findings and on the basis of the results obtained plan possible further actions, such as awareness-raising campaigns among pedestrians and cyclists.

With a view to easing increasing conflicts in pedestrian zones between pedestrians and cyclists, as early as in May last year, as part of the ‘For a city for both’ initiative, we and the Ljubljana Cycling Network Society distributed around 5,000 leaflets entitled ‘Attention! Area of care’ which reminded cyclists that they should go slowly, at pedestrians’ speed. In this we cautioned that in a pedestrian zone the pedestrian is ‘king’, that they have right of way, and we particularly addressed those cyclists that behave negligently in pedestrian zones. We also made a video on this theme, which you can watch at the following link. http://www.civitasljubljana.si/kolesarji-na-mostovih-trajnostne-mobilnosti.

You can find out more about Project Champ on its website, while Ljubljana is showcased at the following link.